NAWGFest – Our Annual Open Festival of Writing
Contents
Welcome to the NAWGFest area. Here you'll find general information about the festival. There are also plenty of links to pages with more detailed information.
Latest Festival News
- The next NAWGFest event is being planned. We hope to see you there.
- Mark the date in your diary: Saturday 15th August 2026.
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The current thinking is to have a hybrid arrangement:
- Multiple locations around the nation,
- Online options.
Festival Dates ↑
Here are the NAWGFest dates. You can click on the event titles for more details.
| Event | Dates | Venue | Notes & Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Previous events… | |||
| NAWGFest 2018 | 31st Aug. — 2nd Sep. | University of Warwick. | After-dinner speaker was Milly Johnson. |
| NAWGFest 2017 | 1st—3rd Sep. | University of Warwick. | After-dinner speaker was Peter Robinson. |
| NAWGFest 2016 | 2nd—4th Sep. | University of Warwick. | After-dinner speaker was Gervase Phinn. |
| Festival 2015 | 4th—6th Sep. | University of Warwick. | Welcome reception by Lady Emma & Lord Julian Fellowes. After-dinner speaker was Lynne Hackles. |
| Festival 2014 | 29th—31st Aug. | University of Warwick. | After-dinner speaker was David Nobbs. |
| Festival 2013 | ? | ? |
Do you have any information about these events? Perhaps you were there. Please let us know: #aXRAbmF3Zy5jby51aw==#. |
| Festival 2012 | ? | University of Nottingham. | |
| Festival 2011 | ? | University of Nottingham. | |
| Festival 2010 | 3rd—5th Sep. | Collingwood College, Durham. | |
| … | |||
| Festival 2002 | ? | University of Durham | |
What is the Festival? ↑
Group photo at pre-dinner drinks, NAWGFest 2016.
On the weekend after the August Bank Holiday, like-minded writers with a broad spectrum of abilities, get together for an exceptional weekend, focussed on improving their writing.
The festival provides:
- Opportunities to network with writers, agents & publishers.
- Workshops run by professional tutors, to improve your writing.
- All meals, including our annual Gala Dinner – a highly entertaining evening.
- Awards ceremony for competition prize winners.
It's an open festival, so all are welcome to join us. Don't be shy we are a friendly group.
Festival Venue ↑
Here are the venues for the events. Follow the links for more details.
- University of Warwick: where we've held the most recent festivals.
- University of Nottingham: where previous festivals took place.
Workshops & Talks ↑
The main educational components of NAWGFest are the tutored workshops. The format of these varies slightly from year to year, but you'll have a wide range of sessions to choose from.
In addition, there will be free talks to attend, if you wish.
Full details can be found in the brochure and on the NAWGFest 2018 page.
Activities ↑
In addition to the main workshops and lectures, there will be a wide variety of additional activities you can take part in. Previous festivals' activities have included:
- Open Mic session – your five minutes of fame,
- Marketplace for selling books and other items,
- Meet the author; readings from books,
- Mini-tales competition,
- Grand raffle.
Full details can be found in the brochure and on the NAWGFest 2018 page.
Gala Dinner & Awards Ceremony ↑
One of the highlights of the festival is the Gala Dinner and its related entertainment, which takes place on the Saturday evening.
Following the dinner, is the After-dinner Talk. Each year we have a different guest speaker to entertain us.
Then we have the Awards Ceremony, where the winners of the NAWG members' competitions are announced.
Brochure & Booking ↑
The next NAWGFest event is not yet open for booking, as we're still at the planning stage.
Prices & Payment ↑
Please see our full price list for details on how much it costs and how you can pay.
In summary, there are three ways to pay:
- By bank transfer using BACS.
- Online using PayPal.
- By posting us a cheque with your booking form.
Full details of the payment options are given in the price list.
Documents ↑
If you've lost any of your NAWGFest documents, then don't worry, help is at hand. You can download them again from here, ready to print out or use on your mobile devices.
No current documents are available, as the next NAWGFest is still at the planning stage.
Brochures from Previous Festivals
From here you can view and download some of the brochures from previous NAWGFest events.
